New Delhi:
The government seems its Lokpal Bill plans in place. It has extended the Winter Session of Parliament to discuss and pass the Bill next week on December 27, 28 and 29. But late in the afternoon, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal confirmed that the extension is now being reconsidered. Some MPs have objected to an extension beyond Christmas, he said.
The Prime Minister has given his nod to a final cabinet note on the contours of the Lokpal Bill, which will be reviewed and approved by the Union Cabinet this evening. It will then be ready to be tabled and debated in Parliament.
Other important legislation like the Whistleblower Bill and the Judicial Accountability Bill will also be discussed and passed in both Houses on those days of extension. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said today that the session was being extended to allow for a proper discussion as the Opposition was not agreeable to passing these bills in a hurry without studying them. The decision to extend the session was taken at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee today.
The Lokpal and Whistleblower Bills will be discussed together, the Judicial Accountability Bill separately. Eight hours have been allotted for the debate on the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha and four hours for the Judicial Accountability Bill and the Whistleblower Bill, starting Tuesday, December 27.
At 7.30 pm today, the Union Cabinet is scheduled to meet to discuss the final cabinet note on the Lokpal Bill readied by three senior ministers yesterday and cleared by the PM today.
Sources said the note cleared by the PM proposes that the Lokpal can only be removed by impeachment; 100 MPs would have to write to the President in order to impeach the Lokpal.
The nine-member ombudsman body, the government reportedly suggests, will have not an investigative wing under it, but an inquiry wing. It will refer cases for investigation to the CBI, which will report back to the Lokpal only on the cases it has referred. But, the government suggests, there should be no splitting of the CBI's investigation and prosecution wings as had been sought by some parties.
The Lokpal's mandate will be to handle complaints of corruption filed by the public against government servants and who will investigate these complaints, and how, is what has political parties divided. There is agreement that the CBI must have complete investigative autonomy.
But whether it should report to the Lokpal - either in part or whole - has confounded politicians. Anna Hazare's team of activists would ideally like the Lokpal to oversee the CBI.
Team Anna member Kiran Bedi gave a sense of the gap that still exists between the government's efforts and the activists' expectations when she tweeted this morning, "Unless independent Lokpal replaces Government for oversight over CBI, expect no change in the anti-corruption systems. Let's not be fooled." She later tweeted, "The extension will be worth if it is for strong effective Lokpal with CBI out of govt control and with Lokpal".
Sources said the government's final note proposes that the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India will form a panel that will appoint the CBI chief. The Lokpal Chairman will not be part of the CBI chief's appointment as an earlier draft of the Bill had provided.
The draft, sources said, also proposes that the Lokpal cannot initiate an inquiry on its own without a complaint being lodged by a citizen. It proposes a category-wise reservation in the Lokpal. An earlier version suggested that 50% of the Lokpal team would be members of the judiciary, but the ministers have suggested removing that provision.
The sources said the government has proposed 50% reservation for women, SC/STs and minorities in the Lokpal, but has suggested removing a provision in an earlier version that suggested that 50% of the Lokpal team comprise members of the judiciary.
Show us that draft before we can call off Anna's December 27 fast, said activist Arvind Kejriwal. So in Maharashtra, Anna Hazare and his team are going full steam ahead with their plans to gather in protest at a Mumbai venue next week. Mr Hazare has said that if a strong anti-corruption bill is not passed, he will begin his fourth hunger strike of the year. That, he says, will be followed by him leading a jail-bharo agitation that will ask citizens to court arrest by protesting against the government from January 1.
The extent of the Lokpal's jurisdiction has been a brittle and persistent theme of conflict between Team Anna and the government. Anna said the Prime Minister could not be exempt from the ombudsman's review. He also said that unless lakhs of junior bureaucrats are held accountable, the malignant grasp of corruption on everyday life will not be defeated.
After deliberations with other parties, the government plans to suggest a few safeguards that would protect the PM from frivolous complaints, and from the disclosure of details of national security. Group C and D employees - the junior bureaucrats - will be investigated by the existing Central Vigilance Commission or CVC, which will provide the Lokpal with regular updates on its inquiries.